The signing of the Association Agreement and DCFTA between Ukraine and the European Union in 2014 was an act of strategic, geopolitical significance in the history of Ukraine. Emblematic of a struggle to replace the Yanukovich regime at home and to resist attempts by Russia to deny Ukraine its ‘European choice’, the Association Agreement is a defiant statement of the country’s choice to become a democratic, independent state.

The purpose of this Handbook is to make the legal content of the Association Agreement clearly comprehensible. It covers all the significant political and economic chapters of the Agreement, and in each case explains the meaning of the commitments made by Ukraine and the challenges posed by their implementation.

A unique reference source for this historic act, this Handbook is intended for professional readers, namely officials, parliamentarians, diplomats, business leaders, lawyers, consultants, think tanks, civil society organisations, university teachers, trainers, students and journalists.

The work has been carried out by two teams of researchers from leading independent think tanks, CEPS in Brussels and the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) in Kyiv, with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). It is one of a trilogy of Handbooks, with the other two volumes examining similar Association Agreements made by the EU with Georgia and Moldova.